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College Professors Chatboard

Are rising tuition rates makes college less affordable?

by Doctoral Student

Jun 13, 2010

I am writing a paper on the subject of rising tuition costs and college affordability.The Wisconsin UW system just approved a 5.5% increase in tuition at all its universities for next year. Some of this money will go to increased financial aid for students whose families make less than $60,000 a year. Are the rising costs of tuition making higher education less affordable? Will this lead to more e- learning, rather than brick and morter education? I would love to hear your thoughts.

view previous comments

bernoulli On 6/19/10, Mom to Three wrote: > > > In some respect I wonder if you missed my main objective. The point > I am trying to also make is what is the purpose of the university - > to serve first and foremost as a research base for faculty, to serve > as the educator of graduate students - many of whom are coming here > from forei...See MoreOn 6/19/10, Mom to Three wrote: > > > In some respect I wonder if you missed my main objective. The point > I am trying to also make is what is the purpose of the university - > to serve first and foremost as a research base for faculty, to serve > as the educator of graduate students - many of whom are coming here > from foreign lands or to serve as the frontline,higher education base > for "paying" American undergraduates? It seems like it is time for > higher education to have a college or university clearly define its > mission from the US News and World Report to Peterson Guides to > presentations for students and parents in person and in informational > materials. What is the chief mission - faculty research and > publishing, graduate education or undergraduate education. > > I would argue that in the sciences and engineering that universities > have usurped the place of the national laboratories, and it is time > for a change such as - Oak Ridge, Argonne, Stonybrook and Livermore > to name a few. Similarly, lets define clearly for all those schools > who do have an interest in and focus on teaching undergraduates. > Parents and high school students do not really know how to assess a > university. > There is no reason for undergraduates to be paying very high tuition > and getting the short shrift in professors who are not that > interested not only in teaching them, but in even advising them. In > most states, divisions could be made among state colleges, too, and > give one or more the mission of undergraduate education.

Sadly, many of the students who attend research universities for their undergraduate degrees are getting short-changed for the reasons you mentioned. Non-research based comprehensive universities do a very good job on undergraduate degrees at a lower cost, IMHO.

When I was in grad school at a state research university I often wondered what would happen if the general public knew how much taxpayer money was being used to educate foreign graduate students who would return to their country of origin and never contribute a dime to our economy. I think it costs about 1/2 million dollars to educate one Ph.D student (divide the total cost of the department by the number of Ph.D's graduated/year). I did quick count in my program by looking at the mail boxes. Only 6 of 33 students were from our state and over half were foreign students. After 1 year most grad students were having their fees waived and were working as Teaching or Research assistants. There was grant money, but not that much.

Also regarding costs, the cost of technology is a big factor and not going away. We are expected to have the latest equipment, computers, and software, but no one wants to pay for it. Companies used to donate a lot of that, but not so much anymore. At my university the budget for new equipment has dwindled to nothing.

Jun 22, 2010

bernoulli On 6/22/10, bernoulli wrote: > On 6/19/10, Mom to Three wrote: >> >> >> In some respect I wonder if you missed my main objective. The point >> I am trying to also make is what is the purpose of the university - >> to serve first and foremost as a research base for faculty, to serve >> as the educator of gradua...See MoreOn 6/22/10, bernoulli wrote: > On 6/19/10, Mom to Three wrote: >> >> >> In some respect I wonder if you missed my main objective. The point >> I am trying to also make is what is the purpose of the university - >> to serve first and foremost as a research base for faculty, to serve >> as the educator of graduate students - many of whom are coming here >> from foreign lands or to serve as the frontline,higher education base >> for "paying" American undergraduates? It seems like it is time for >> higher education to have a college or university clearly define its >> mission from the US News and World Report to Peterson Guides to >> presentations for students and parents in person and in informational >> materials. What is the chief mission - faculty research and >> publishing, graduate education or undergraduate education. >> >> I would argue that in the sciences and engineering that universities >> have usurped the place of the national laboratories, and it is time >> for a change such as - Oak Ridge, Argonne, Stonybrook and Livermore >> to name a few. Similarly, lets define clearly for all those schools >> who do have an interest in and focus on teaching undergraduates. >> Parents and high school students do not really know how to assess a >> university. >> There is no reason for undergraduates to be paying very high tuition >> and getting the short shrift in professors who are not that >> interested not only in teaching them, but in even advising them. In >> most states, divisions could be made among state colleges, too, and >> give one or more the mission of undergraduate education. > > Sadly, many of the students who attend research universities for their > undergraduate degrees are getting short-changed for the reasons you > mentioned. Non-research based comprehensive universities do a very good > job on undergraduate degrees at a lower cost, IMHO. > > When I was in grad school at a state research university I often > wondered what would happen if the general public knew how much taxpayer > money was being used to educate foreign graduate students who would > return to their country of origin and never contribute a dime to our > economy. I think it costs about 1/2 million dollars to educate one Ph.D > student (divide the total cost of the department by the number of Ph.D's > graduated/year). I did quick count in my program by looking at the mail > boxes. Only 6 of 33 students were from our state and over half were > foreign students. After 1 year most grad students were having their fees > waived and were working as Teaching or Research assistants. There was > grant money, but not that much. > > Also regarding costs, the cost of technology is a big factor and not > going away. We are expected to have the latest equipment, computers, and > software, but no one wants to pay for it. Companies used to donate a lot > of that, but not so much anymore. At my university the budget for new > equipment has dwindled to nothing. >

I wanted to add, that with technology comes a huge support group of instructional designers, help desk, Blackboard administrators, trainers, lab assistants, repair crew, network administrators, etc. We also have added directors and full staffs for the Honors program, Service Learning office, student research program, and two or three flavors of disabled student services. We have separate staffs for all five of our ethnic student offices while they are combined at many other universities.

On top of that we have four separately managed maintenance crews for the academic buildings, student union, dormitories, and student apartments.

Health services are provided way below cost.

So if we want to provide those services, someone has to pay for them.

Jun 22, 2010

Mom to Three The short-term answer for rising college costs will most likely be the use of community colleges as a feeder program with articulated agreements with state schools and in the future probably increasingly with private universities at least within an a certain area range. While this will give those middle income families a break in dealing with four ...See More

Jun 23, 2010

sspil I teach at a small community college that feeds into larger 4 year universities so my perspective is a bit different. Since the economic downturn, we have seen quite a spike in enrollment, so it is obvious that students are seeking a more cost effective way to get an education. However, I wonder how the community colleges will be able to handle the...See More

Jun 24, 2010

Doctoral Student I understand the need for a more clearly defined purpose in higher education but what onus do theses institutions have to do this? For the good of the students? I am pretty sure they won't make any changes to tradition unless they benefit.

I have read and agree with the ides of 2 year and community colleges becoming feeder schools....some...See More

Jun 27, 2010

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